The Dinosaurs Of Meahdoln
by EEMeekings
Summary: [S1:E2] After her surreal - and almost unbelievable - adventure with The Doctor in her hospital, Flossy now finds herself being whisked away with the madman on new adventures. Arriving on an alien planet, it all seems glorious at first. But its soon clear the residents are in danger, and its up to The Doctor and Flossy to save them
1. Chapter 1

Walking into the TARDIS, Flossy is excitedly over-whelmed by what she sees. She doesn't run back out in panic, as so many have before her. Instead, she stands just inside the doors, grinning at the sights, with a look of nothing less than pure admiration.

The Doctor eventually walks in behind Flossy, smiling to himself as he notices her refreshing reaction to his ship. Hanging his jacket on the coat rack just behind her, The Doctor strolls past Flossy, heading for the main console.

"immediate thoughts?," he inquires, with a smile. "Don't be shy, I can guarantee you won't offend us – you'd be surprised at some of the passing remarks me and sexy here have heard over the years"

Perching himself on the seat to the side of the main console, The Doctor is purposely over-dramatic, trying to awaken Flossy from her daze.

"go on, hit us with it," he cries out, with his hand resting on his forehead, "we can take it"

Enthusiastically, Flossy runs up the steps as fast as she possible could, her arms flailing around all over the place. She doesn't quite know where to look, resulting in her spinning around in circles, trying to take in very little detail.

"It's huge!" she remarks, her eyes full of delight

The Doctor corrects her, though Flossy barely takes any notice of his remark at all "er, that's 'she', if you don't mind"

Flossy runs around the TARDIS matrix with glee, touching as many components of the controls as she possibly can. The Doctor is forced to pulls his legs up close to his body, as she dashes by him.

"It's like a child's playground!" she screeches with joy "**_bigger_** than a child's playground!"

Momentarily stopping in her tracks, Flossy notices a set of stairs that lead upwards from where she is stood.

"and what's up here?"

She notices more stairs over the other side of the console, this time leading downwards. She rushes over in an attempt to discover their destination.

"or down here even?" Her excitement continues to increase with every extra little detail she uncovers. "it's like it goes on forever!" she laughs

"she does," The Doctor replies, grinning to himself, as he watches Flossy's frankly amusing reaction expand.

Upon hearing this, Flossy stops her frantic movements, and turns to The Doctor, in slight disbelief.

"You're kidding!" she exclaims, as she begins heading over to the Time Lord, whilst thinking it all through out loud "A real-life ship, that goes beyond infinity… in outer space!"

Slumping herself on the seat next to The Doctor, she can hardly believe the words that are coming out of her own mouth "oh, this is just surreal"

"Finished?" The Doctor replies, in his usual sassy manner.

He stands at the TARDIS controls and begins altering objects here, there and everywhere, ready to start their first outer-space journey together. Intrigued, Flossy follows The Doctor, and stands simply observing the genius at work.

After one adventure, and before even leaving Earth, Flossy is already beginning to see through The Doctor and his antics. There is a short silence in the air, as she begins to question his 'front' of a personality. Seeing the way that he acted before, she can see that these little trips of his, these adventures, touch his hearts more than he lets on.

"Does it ever get too much, all of this?" Flossy questions The Doctor, hoping for a rare, honest response. "The constant fighting, the alien threats, the heart-wrenching decisions, the never-ending ship? I mean, it's all so… alien."

The Doctor looks her in the eyes, and responds the only way he can "Oh, Flossy – we've only just begun"

They smile at one another, as The Doctor flies his ship – poorly as usual, causing the two of them to be thrown about all over the place.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS and into what appears to be some sort of abandoned shack. Around him, he could see nothing but rotting wood where it's walls should be – which, quite frankly, appear as if they would buckle under the weight of a single fly. There was cracked, moulding windows, just about holding themselves in place. And above all, he found himself wading through faeces piled high on the floor – he hoped it was an animal's work.

Flossy followed him out of the TARDIS, and is instantly forced to bring her hand up to cover her nose.

"urgh!" she remarks, disgusted at her surroundings "What is that smell?!"

Within seconds she feels the faeces coating the floor beneath her feet, as she tries to step forward. Looking down, the answer to her previous question soon became all too obvious.

"oh… not the most dignified of landings is it?"

"yeah, sorry about that"

Eventually managing to summon up the courage to bring her hands back down to her side, Flossy tries her best to not let their current environment get to her, and instead finds herself continuing to try and prove herself to The Doctor.

"abandoned I take it?" she suggests

"certainly looks that way," The Doctor agrees. "And for quite a while too, I'm guessing. Well, one would hope – takes a lot to get into this disarray overnight"

"I doubt there's anyone left," Flossy continues, "judging by the state of this place, we'd be lucky if we found a single… ant that survived this level of abandonment!"

"ha, indeed!" The Doctor laughs, "let's find out though shall we – come on!"

He takes her hand, as the pair of them carefully wade through the mould and dirt smothering the floor, several inches high. Eventually they were able to reach the door – it's not a big room, but it's old and bedraggled featured simply reduced their pace.

The Doctor attempts to let himself and Flossy out, but the second he puts the slightest bit of force on the door it crumbles into a pile of rubble in front of him. Pretending it was all part of the plan, as only The Doctor does best, he steps over the ruins that were previously the door.

"so bill me," he shrugs

Flossy mimics his movements, as she joins The Doctor on the porch. She shakes the debris of the shack off of her shoes and ankles, pondering how she just managed to walk through such a hideous place without getting hysterical about it.


	3. Chapter 3

Once she's done quickly dusting herself off, Flossy looks up to see whereabouts they actually are. Despite first impressions, the pair of them seem to have landed on some form of paradise planet - one of alien origin of course.

Flossy could tell this because as much as it looked like one of those breath-taking images she could easily recall from back home – all those TV adverts, magazine pictures, and family post cards sent form foreign lands – it really doesn't get much more foreign than this.

The smooth, un-touched sand was crystal blue , whilst the water was calm, glistening bright red under the natural light.

The Doctor stepped onto the sand, taking in the sights himself. He's clearly been here before, that was evident form the way he held himself as he strolled across the sand. He wondered around, looking content, and simply admiring his surroundings and how it's changed – or not changed, as the case may be.

Despite this, he appears to be leaving Flossy to take her first steps and make her first impressions of her own accord – for now. He feels it probably is a wise idea to stake out the place alone first anyway; after all, Flossy is new to all of this.

He crouches down, picks up the sand, and begins to feed it through his fingers.

"interesting…" he ponders, as he sniffs the sand, before lifting a small sample to his face and tasting it. "very interesting…"

He stands up once more, heading over towards the rear of the beach. Square boulders from an almost border around the breath-taking view. They appear to be the same make-up as those back on Earth – dark grey, and a similar size – about the only thing here that doesn't look alien.

The Doctor lightly taps on one of the boulders, whilst pressing his ear up against it.

"seems safe enough," he mutters to himself, "for now"

He strolls back towards the water edge, taking in every inch of his surroundings as he does so. Admiring the calm and stillness of the water, he walks towards the entrance of the shack once more.

As he does this, he notices a pathway, just beyond the boulders, out of the corner of his eye. Despite questioning where it leads, or whether it's brand new or ancient, he gives little reaction to it. He stands a short distance from the shack, and remains admiring the horizon, whilst he talks to Flossy.

"come on, stop being so boring," he jokes, "get out here"

"sorry." Flossy replies, still astonished at the sights before her "it's just so… wow." She slowly steps off of the porch and onto the sand, joining The Doctor at his side. "are you gonna tell me where we are then? Or am I supposed to work it out for myself?"

"I could make you guess," The Doctor laughs to himself "all those planets out there, more than you could even dare to imagine; we may be here for a while, but it would make excellent entertainment"

"yes, ha ha, lets all laugh at the newbie," Flossy replies, sarcastically. "there cant be that many with red sea though" she continued, "and I'm talking _literally_ red sea, not like our _so-called_ Red Sea, I mean, that's just a name. but Red Sea's got to narrow it down, surely? And then there's this!"

She jumps up and down on the sand, like a five year old testing out a bouncy castle for their first time. The Doctor simply smiles at her.

"_Blue _sand!" she yells with excitement "now that, that is cool."

"I wouldn't trust that sand if I were you," The Doctor states, cautiously

"_Don't trust the sand?_" Flossy echoes. "Have you taken extra crazy pills today?"

"nope, just the usual 5," he jokes, before responding like a mature adult for a change. "It's called Meahdoln. This planet has been around long before teeny tiny Earth was even thought of. It's smaller, granted, but size isn't everything"

He winks at Flossy, as she smiles in return, picking up on the double-entendre she recognises he is implying. She finds herself swiftly moving the conversation on, to avoid any further embarrassing or awkward discussions.

"inhabitants?" she queries.

"some," responds The Doctor. "most of them dead, but naturally there are a few survivors. They say that some immigrants from neighbouring planets have taken up residency too, not only for the outstanding sights, but there are more efficient and better quality resources for them here"

"nothing changes," Flossy mutters under hear breath.

She receives a disapproving look from The Doctor, for this passing comment on immigrants. Again, she makes an attempt at moving the conversation on, to prevent any lectures from the man stood before her.

"where are they then, these survivors?" she questions "Small planet, few existing species – they've got to be somewhere"

The Doctor smiles to himself, loving the mystery of their situation already. This un-nerves Flossy slightly, but she lets it past, assuming that after such an apparent long time experiencing this lifestyle, The Doctor must know what he is doing by now.

"I have no idea," he grins, "I don't even know who they are, how many, nothing. It's all new to me. I haven't been here in… ooo… 500 years?" He begins to calculate in his head. He looks up absent minded, as if working out equations right there and then. "yeah, must be, atleast. Things have changed around here. I'm as in the dark as you are, Flossy"

"you and me together then," she replies, grabbing his hand and leading him away from the beach. "Allons-y!"

"what?" The Doctor can barely believe his ears. He stands frozen in shock, staring at Flossy. That's his phrase. His phrase from centuries gone by, granted. But still, it's _his_ phrase.

"it's French." Flossy responds, innocently. "it means _let's go_." She sighs to herself, as The Doctor continues to barely move a muscle. "You may have been travelling through time and space for god knows how long, but I've been travelling Earth in the 20th century."

She looks across as his immobile body, ignorant to the big deal that is being made over one tiny little phrase.

"I can show off too, y'know!" she laughs "C'mon. Allons-y, Doctor!"

Grabbing his hand and pulling him along behind her, they run across the sand. Flossy is heading for the pathway that The Doctor noticed earlier, which he hadn't noticed her making any knowledge of before hand. He is starting to think that maybe there is more to this girl than meets the eye…


	4. Chapter 4

They arrive at some bushes, where Flossy has slowed the pair of them down and forcefully encouraged The Doctor to crouch down out of sight. She had heard some strange noises coming from the other side; noises which she did not recognise.

She has only just managed to hush The Doctor's constant moaning – he had been complaining about how Flossy had grabbed his hand and rushed off, taking the lead, claiming that it was 'his job'. Of course, Flossy was having none of his protesting.

She leans in closer towards the bush, in an attempt to see if she can interpret the noises. She had hoped that by getting closer, they may have begun to make sense, but she was still none the wiser.

"what do you think it is, Doctor?" Flossy asked, curious of the answer.

"you wouldn't believe me if I told you," he replied with a grin on his face.

Grinning, he pushes the branches of the bush out of the way, making a path for him to step through. Flossy tries to go through at the same time, but he doesn't hold the pathway open for her, and the leaves and branches fling back into her face.

She shook it off – she's getting used to The Doctor and his funny little quirks already – and made her own path through to the other side. She stepped through confidently, that is. Until she realised what is was that was making the noise. The reason she hadn't recognised it. The reason she heard it from such a distance away.

Dinosaurs.

A heard of dinosaurs stood there, right in front of her.

Flossy stepped back in astonishment. The Doctor was right; she wouldn't have believed him if he had told her. The Doctors stands watching the amazing creatures as they roam around as elegantly as a dinosaur possibly cold. He grins at the beautiful creatures, admiring every little detail of their existence, whilst Flossy continues to look on in shock.

She struggles to find the right words to say, before realising that there are no words that can truly describe how she is feeling right now.

"are they…" she mumbles

"dinosaurs" The Doctor beams, gleefully

"But how?" Flossy replies, trying to comprehend how the situation is even possible, "are… are we safe?" she whispers, as if the creatures hearing her could jeopardise the following response.

"completely. These aren't dinosaurs from Earth," states The Doctor, as he begins to explain. "Each and every one of these were born and bred here on Meahdoln. They've been here from the dawn of this planet, much like yours were, only they've endured just about everything you can think of; war, poison, famishment, interrogation, alien threats, invasions. They've survived it all! And yet, they're one of the friendliest species there is – don't be scared, trust me."

He reaches out his hand towards Flossy. She looks at it for a second, then cautiously grabs hold. The Doctor leads her over to the heard, hovering her hand over one of the creatures. She is about to stroke the animal's nose, but has a sudden change of mind and retreats.

She double checks with The Doctor, for her own peace of mind more than anything else, "you're sure it won't harm me?"

"honestly, you're more scared of him than he is of you," he remarks, with that settling smile he performs oh so easily. "you'll be fine – look"

He strokes the dinosaur himself, in an attempt to reassure Flossy that it is, in fact, safe. She watches him intently, as the dinosaur stands with its eyes closed, gently moving in time with The Doctor's hand movements – it appears to be enjoying the affection.

Flossy finds herself taking a deep breath, before reaching out to join him. She strokes the dinosaur, gingerly at first, but it doesn't take her long to feel at home, so to speak.

"he's so smooth!" she grins, proud at herself for finally summoning up the courage to stroke him. And, at the same time, wondering why she was making such a big fuss about it before hand.

The Doctor smiles and nods at her passing remark, knowing that many people have the mis-conception of scales being rough to the touch.

"he's a Doophus," The Doctor pipes up

Upon hearing this, Flossy steps back, swiftly retreating her hand away from the creature.

"Doctor!" she complains, "Don't anger him whilst my hand is near his face! Don't anger him at all!"

"no, that's his breed!" The Doctor chuckles, amused by Flossy's ignorance. "Well, to be precise, it's actually called The Oophus Doophus, but we all love a nickname don't we?"

He points to Flossy, as he begins to scramble around in his mind, trying to find a dinosaur nickname that she will recognise. So many names, there's got to be some that are heard of on Earth?

"Oh! Like T-Rex!" he yells, excited that he has eventually thought of a relatable nickname. "Do you want to know the best feature of a Doophus, though?" he continues

"…what's that?" Flossy cautiously asks, slightly concerned about what is about what The Doctor could possibly do or say next.

Flossy can't help but watch on intrigued, as he bends his knees in front of the dinosaur's nose. She stands watching him, confused, but it doesn't take long before she catches on.

The dinosaur flips The Doctor onto it's back, as he yells "They're number 2 in the dinosaur riding charts – quick, her too, Danny!"

And with that, the dinosaur flips Flossy up into the air, as she goes flying past The Doctor and onto it's back. It's lucky that he wears that ridiculous bow tie, otherwise without that to grab hold of, Flossy fears she may have ended up in the bushes opposite.

She grabs a-hold of The Doctor, as he straightens his bow tie. A few simple taps on the side of the dinosaur, and the three of them are sent charging back into the direction of the beach.


	5. Chapter 5

The dinosaur comes to a sudden halt just before the pathway that reaches to the beach; no warning, it just stops. Warily, it leans its head forward, allowing The Doctor and Flossy to slide down it. The Doctor slips down with ease, as Flossy tumbles off after him.

The Doctor turns to 'Danny' – as he has now named the dinosaur – puzzled as to the reasoning behind his sudden, timid behaviour. Flossy stands to the side, simply observing, as The Doctor tries his best to get some sense out of the dinosaur.

"what is it, what's wrong?" he asks, in a caring manner

"Doctor?" Flossy states, in hope of him explaining what's going on

"something's upsetting him," The Doctor responds, in a calm, yet curious voice. "There is something about that beach, that this dinosaur really doesn't like. But what?"

He presses his head against the dinosaur's and speaks softly to it. He does so whilst stroking the side of the creature in a reassuring manner "Danny…"

"I cannot believe you've called your dinosaur 'Danny'!" Flossy interrupts

Quickly retreating from his position and confronting Flossy, The Doctor tries his best to quieten her down as quickly as possible. "why? What's wrong with Danny? It's cool okay, it's a cool name. Now, hush"

He speaks to the dinosaur once more, returning to his previous position, and using his same 'you-can-trust-me' method as before.

"Danny, just tell me what it is, I can help you," he says, soothing the animal "I'm a Doctor."

Flossy interrupts him once more, not really thinking ahead about how her words may affect the creature stood before them. "You told me you were **_the_** Doctor and that there was a big difference?"

"you are not helping!" The Doctor snaps in response.

Recognising that actually, he is probably right, Flossy begins to conjure up a plan of her own to try and help Danny. Thinking on her feet, she quickly removes her belt and cautiously approaches The Doctor and his new friend.

"here, lets try this," she suggests

"now what are you doing?" The Doctor barks, assuming that Flossy is simply ignorantly interrupting him again.

Flossy now finds herself mimicking The Doctor's hush tones. She is actually considering the thought process of the dinosaur, much to her own surprise. She comes to the conclusion that despite not appearing to talk himself, Danny may still be able to understand what the pair of them are saying.

Taking this into account, Flossy pulls The Doctor to the side slightly, and explains her new idea to him, in the hope that he will agree.

"if we can get him on the beach," she whispers, "we can find out what it is that's causing him to act up"

Flossy gives no time for The Doctor to agree nor disagree, and instead continues on with beginning her plan. She strokes Danny's nose, as she did before, in an attempt to calm him down. Tying the belt around his neck, she uses it to form a sort of leash. Flossy then holds the other end of her belt and looks at the Doctor.

"well off you go then," she orders, "he's more likely to follow you than he is me"

The Doctor does as he is told and walks onto the beach. He does this backwards, as he tries to coax Danny to follow his footsteps, rubbing his fingers together and making a sort of squeaking noise – much like you would if you were trying to call a pet cat to its bed.

With a few gentle nudges from Flossy and a couple more encouraging words from The Doctor, the dinosaur is soon heading towards the beach.

Flossy keeps a tight hold on the leash, knowing that if Danny really is scared, then he could try and escape at any second. Not that her strength against the dinosaur's would be any contest, but she felt like she needed to be prepared to give it ago.


	6. Chapter 6

Luckily, Flossy's restraint was never needed – Danny walks through the pathway and is onto the beach, no problem at all. It makes The Doctor and Flossy wonder if the sudden character change beforehand was about the beach at all.

Once the three of them are safely placed into the middle of the sand, The Doctor releases Danny from his leash, and puts it into his pocket.

"good thinking, Flossy," he remarks, that cheeky smile returning onto his face.

"I'm gonna need that back," Flossy states, watching him place her belt into his pocket.

"Of course, sorry," The Doctor responds, handing Flossy her belt back. She takes it from him, smiling at his alien behaviour, and places it around her waist once more.

"but the mystery still remains," The Doctor continues, pondering to himself about probable answers already.

"indeed it does – over to you, Mr Morse," Flossy cheekily replies, mocking The Doctor's detective behaviour.

He smiles, clearly pleased with Flossy's comparison between himself and Inspector Morse. Flossy then playfully pushes him towards Danny, laughing to herself at how easily pleased the Time Lord was. She didn't see it as an obvious compliment to give to someone herself, but then again, The Doctor is a little on the bizarre side.

Flossy watches him inquisitively, as he starts to lead Danny towards the water's edge. Almost instantly though, the pair of them return back to Flossy's side.

"If it's not the sand, and it's not the water," The Doctor points out, upon his return, "that only leaves one thing – give me a hand will you?"

"a hand?" Flossy asks, confused slightly "a hand with what?"

"these boulders," The Doctor replies, wondering why Flossy has asked such an obvious question.

But she remains looking at him, puzzled, not entirely sure what The Doctor would want her help. She can barely be of any help, surely? Besides, what does The Doctor want them to do with the boulders; why the rocks?

"If I attempt to take Danny over to them," The Doctor begins to explain himself, after eventually recognising Flossy's confusion, "there's no way of predicting how he will react. But if I bring just one of them over here, the reaction should lessen."

Flossy watches him in admiration – not only has he already deduced the one and only possible explanation left for Danny's erratic behaviour, but he's also come up with a plan to help solve the puzzle. He's side-tracked any issues that may arise **_before_** they arise, constructing an almost prefect plan. This man really isn't human.

"something about them is making Danny – and his family- extremely agitated," The Doctor continues, "and it's our job to work out just what that 'something' is. Problem is, as strong and manly as I may look, I can't shift those things on my own."

In an attempt to get her head around how mad the situation is, Flossy finds herself clarifying The Doctor's plans aloud.

"right…," she hesitates, "so, you want me to help you drag one of those rocks, atleast twice the size of me, 20ft across an alien beach?"

"that's right, yeah," The Doctor replies, before mumbling under his breath, purposely loud enough so that Flossy can hear him "I don't know, just when I thought you were clever…"

Flossy smiles slightly, beginning to question why she is here. Questioning why she came on this whirlwind of a ride with a man she doesn't even know. It's all suddenly hitting home how irresponsible she's been acting. All because of one man – and an alien man at that.


	7. Chapter 7

The pair of them walk towards the boulders. The Doctor strides on ahead, raring to go as usual, whilst Flossy follows on behind. She's still not entirely convinced that the two of them will be able to shift the boulder alone – they look pretty hefty.

Behind them, Danny strolls over to the water's edge, and helps himself to a refreshing drink. The Doctor places his hand on the rock, leaning against it, as he watches Flossy approach him. In doing this, The Doctor realises just how insecure the boulders are, as the slightest bit of pressure causes them to resonate against one another.

The very instant that he hears the sound of the stone scraping together, Danny jolts his head upwards. Now cautiously watching The Doctor and Flossy, Danny is almost frozen solid.

"here we are then," The Doctor pipes up, as Flossy finally catches up with him at the far end of the beach, "can't be too hard, surely. They don't look like they're burrowed into the ground, they should slide right out."

"oh yeah, simple," Flossy replies, sarcastically.

"exactly!" The Doctor grins, before then realising that Flossy was probably not being serious "oh… sarcasm?"

"yeah," she nods, thinking that the answer was obvious, and didn't need stating.

"just hold that side," The Doctor orders. "I'll pull this side out first, then you go – like a sort of zig-zag motion, okay?"

Flossy nods in agreement, as The Doctor begins to carry out his plan, just as he said. He places one hand at the front of the rock, reaches the other arm over as far back as it will go, a step back, and pulls as hard as he possibly can. Grunting and panting as he tugs at the boulder, The Doctor eventually manages to shift the stone – he's not as strong as he likes to think.

Before the pair of them are given the chance to move the boulder any further, a rush of three or four star-shaped creatures comes scuttling out from underneath. Small in size, white in colour – they were nothing like anything Flossy had ever seen before.

Danny sees the creatures emerge, and heads towards the side of the beach, cowering behind the run-down shack The Doctor and Flossy arrived in. The Doctor and Flossy don't notice this, and instead let go of the rock, focusing their attention onto the alien creatures scuttling around beneath their feet.

"aw, they're cute!" Flossy remarks, with a smile. "What are they, like space starfish?"

"I'm not sure," The Doctor replies, the cogs clearly already beginning to turn in his head, as he ponders who – or what – these creatures are. "Whatever they are, it's definetly these little fella's that are scaring our friend Danny over there," he says, tilting his head towards the shack, behind which, Danny is still hiding. "But why?"

The Doctor crouches down to get a closer look at the stars, in the hope that it will help him figure out their origin. Flossy follows his lead and crouches down too, looking down at the creatures with a big cheesy smile – much like she does when talking to her little niece back home.

As they do this, a blindingly, yellow beam shines across the pair of them, as one of the stars begins to scan them. Flossy waves at it, whilst The Doctor puts on his best charming grin – them both making an attempt to appear friendly towards the star, in the hope that they can discover the truth behind what's going on.

"hello!" they both beam, in unison.

Suddenly though, they find themselves dodging laser beams being shot in their direction. That little star that had scanned them moments ago, is now trying to kill them! Backing of out of the way, the pair of them are followed across the beach by one tiny little star, somehow managing to appear so threatening that Flossy begins to fear for her life.

"Doctor!" she screams, pleading for his help.

"run!" he screams back at her in response.

"run where?" she shouts back at him

"just run!" The Doctor instructs, "but stay on the beach!"

Doing as she's told – as she had no other choice – Flossy runs madly around the beach, jumping and side-stepping in an attempt to dodge the fast and dangerous beams still being shot in her direction. Covering every last inch of the beach, the creatures continues to follow her, missing each shot by mere millimetres.

Whilst running around, Flossy catches a glimpse of The Doctor. He is sat crossed legged on the sand, fiddling with that sonic thingy of his, messing around with the different buttons and features on it.

"what are you doing?" she screams at him

"keep running!" he shouts back, not even looking up from his screwdriver.

"Doctor!"

"don't stop, you're drawing it's fire – giving me more time!"

"I hate you!"

"hating isn't running!"

Right at that very moment, The Doctor jumps up, as he finds the right setting.

"a-ha!" he remarks, with joy.

Standing in the middle of Flossy's path, The Doctor catches her as she runs towards him. Pushing her behind his for protection, he takes his chance and aims his sonic screwdriver at the star. With a quick whirr, the creature is stunned, before it has a chance to attempt any more damage.

Flossy slowly re-appears from behind The Doctor, after now concluding it's safe to come back out. She hugs him, and they laugh together with relief, before walking over to have a proper look at the star – now that they are certain it's safe to do so.

The Doctor picks it up and turns it over in his hand, inspecting every single inch of it. Flossy remains at his side, intrigued as to what they may discover. Then she remembers about the rest of the stars that emerged from the rock, and begins to head back over in their direction.

"what about those over – oh, where did they go?" she asks, upon realising that they're no longer next to the rock where they left them.

"probably scuttled back under the rock when they realised what they were up against," The Doctor explains, barely glancing over for more than a second. "Although, did you realise how they left their little buddy here to deal with his prey alone?" he ponders, still studying the star the pair of them captured.

After noticing the same thing herself, Flossy wonders whether or not The Doctor knows the answer to his own question – which is the case all too often. "yeah," she states. "bit weird; what with them living in groups, you'd of thought they'd help each other out. What's all that about?"

"no idea – love not knowing," The Doctor replies, grinning. "Hopefully we'll find out," he continues, "just got to get a closer look at Sally here"

"Sally?"

"Sally, yeah"

"do you name everything," Flossy asks, with a smile.

"of course!" The Doctor responds, as he pulls himself up, standing by Flossy's side. "Wouldn't you hate it if you didn't have a name?"

"doesn't matter, you don't call me by my name anyway, not my real name," she points out.

"ah, but nicknames are even better!" The Doctor grins, trying his best to show her that he does listen – even though she's right, and he never actually bothered to learn her real name. "They show significance. If someone cares enough to study you and provide you with a nickname that suits everything about you, that's a good thing, not bad."

"and is Doctor your nickname?" Flossy asks, hoping to get a serious answer for once.

"I guess it is in a way, yeah"

She smiles, knowing that response is probably the most honest she will ever get out of him. Finally feeling like the pair of them are boning properly, she takes it upon herself to deliver the next pert of their plan.

"right then, Doctor, to the TARDIS," she says, nudging him. "Let's find out what Sally has to say for herself."

The Doctor places Sally into his pocket, and smiles at her, with pride. He knows that she is beginning to feel like Flossy is finally seeing herself for the brilliance that she really is. But most importantly, she believes in herself again. Linking arms, the two of them head down the beach, towards the shack.


	8. Chapter 8

Approaching the shack, Flossy notices Danny still hiding behind it. She taps The Doctor's arm, and he heads on towards TARDIS, inside the wreckage. Flossy walks up to Danny carefully, and strokes him on the nose.

"hey, Danny," she says, soothingly, "it's safe to come out now, I promise. Come on"

She reassures him and manages to edge him forward slightly. Upon seeing the beach, Danny is able to confirm for himself that the beach is clear and therefore it is safe. Gradually leading him back to the sand again, Flossy ponders about where The Doctor is. She though that he only went in to re-materialize the TARDIS back outside – a nicer environment for them both and his ship – but he seems to be taking a while. She doesn't think much of it though, and just assumes that the excitement go the better of him, and he's begun Sally's investigation himself.

Not letting it bother her too much, Flossy takes advantage of the situation. She may have only had one week in the TARDIS, but already the matrix has got inside her head and she can understand what Danny is saying. She has no idea whether or not it works the other way around, and Danny can understand her, but she doesn't see any harm in giving it a go.

Sitting down on the beach, she pats the sand to the side of her. Danny joins her by her side, and lies down on the sand. She sits gently stroking his head, looking over the calming sea, as she begins to talk to him.

"You're scared aren't you? I can tell. There's nothing to be ashamed of, we all get scared sometimes. Some of us are scared of the dark, some of clowns, some are scared of spiders. And then there's your fear – a fear of evil stars that shoot laser beams at you. I can see the logic," she laughs to herself, realising how insignificant the other fears she mentioned seemed now.

"Do you want to know something?" she continues. "I was scared too. When I was running and dodging just now, all I could think about was the life I left back home. Whether or not I'd see it again. The Doctor warned me it was a risky job, on the very first day I met him. But like my father always said 'a life without risk, is a life not lived'. He was a soldier, my dad, he fought for my country back home. He took risks, he never gave up - I guess that why I came along with The Doctor. He showed me everything I could be, all the different ways I could help those around me. But he did that through war. I didn't even consider that it was always war, always fighting where ever you go," realising the reality of the situation, Flossy begins to question why she got into the TARDIS on that fateful day.

"Don't get me wrong, I do trust The Doctor," she points out. "As crazy and nutty as he is, I don't think there's a better man out there, for people like us, planets like mine and yours, to rely on. But he's been doing this for centuries – I'm new to all this. A week ago, I woke up and it was any normal day. I didn't even know who he was; his ship, his technology, I didn't know any of it existed. And here I am today, running around on blue beaches, riding alien dinosaurs, just pretending I know what I'm doing. One of these days, 'just pretending' isn't going to be enough. One thing I know for sure is I'm going to do everything I can to help The Doctor. I know I'm going to have to leave him one day, but until then, I'm determined to enjoy every ridiculous second I spend with that remarkable man."

Now firmly set on proving The Doctor that she is worth having around, Flossy finds herself smiling at her own self-belief. She pats Danny, as a sort of thankyou for listening to her ramblings. Little did she know, The Doctor was also listening – to every word.


	9. Chapter 9

The Doctor had parked the TARDIS in the pathway to the side of the beach. He initially did this to prevent the ship scaring Danny, but it had actually worked out to The Doctor's advantage too – it meant that Flossy hadn't heard the TARDIS land.

It was then that he was about to walk up to Flossy and ask for her assistance in his investigation, but he stopped in his tracks when he heard her talking. Being sure to stand out of sight, he waited for her to finish, listening to what she had to say in the meantime.

Once she'd finished he headed across the beach, towards her. He gave no inclination as to the fact that he heard what she said, and instead, carried on as planned.

"Flossy!" The Doctor called, in her direction.

He continues to walk towards her, as she stands up, turning around to face him. She straightens out her clothes, and smiles as he approaches her.

"you couldn't give us a hand, could you?" he continues.

"sure – where's the TARDIS?" Flossy inquires, whilst looking around for the bright blue ship.

"just down the pathway," The Doctor replies, tilting his head in the direction of where he parked up.

He reaches his hand into his pocket and swiftly brings out a kind of test tube, throwing it in Flossy's direction. Luckily, she just about manages to fumble around and catch it in time.

"fill that up with sand first," he instructs her, "and bring it with you."

Flossy nods her head in agreement, and The Doctor heads back up the beach, towards the TARDIS. It takes a few mere seconds for Flossy to follow orders and collect a sample of sand. Before rushing off to catch up with The Doctor, she takes a look back, to check on Danny. He remains in the same position on the sand as she left him earlier – she suspects he's fallen asleep. She smiles at him, before dashing across the beach, gripping tightly to the test tube, heading towards The Doctor in the TARDIS.


	10. Chapter 10

The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors and both him and Flossy step inside. Flossy stands in the doorway, dusting the odd bits of sand off herself where she's been sat on the beach. The Doctor rushes past her, and straight towards the console, where he has already wired up Sally into the mainframe of the computer system.

Flossy soon follows him, and her attention is immediately drawn to Sally. She gives a confused reaction, and begins to feel responsible for causing the poor creature to be used in this way. Not wanting to appear weak in front of The Doctor, Flossy ignores her feelings, and gets back to the matter in hand.

She holds the test tube up towards The Doctor, but he doesn't take it from her. She is about to place it down on the console, when a thought occurs to her.

"If she's already wired in, why do you need this?" she queries.

"because I don't believe what this stupid console is telling me," The Doctor replies, kicking the console as he begins to get annoyed, "I think it's broken"

"and the sand is going to help how?" Flossy asks, still confused. "come on, newbie here, I'm going to need some sort of explanation, I can't work it out on my own."

The Doctor begins to reassure Flossy. Knowing how she is only just beginning to belive in herself and her abilities, he is sure to encourage her not to slip back into her old ways. He gives her that small, but necessary, confidence boost that she so desperately needs.

"questions are good, granted," he begins, "but you're really not as dim-witted as you think you are – you ought to give yourself more credit."

Flossy smiles at The Doctors approval of her and her skills, but before she has the chance to thank him at all in anyway, he continues rabbiting on about the matter in hand.

"right, sand," he continues. "Sally here, another little friend of ours who is giving out dodgy motives, but hey, never judge a book by its film I always say. Now, she says that she was being kind when she was firing laser at you, from all angles."

"she would" Flossy replies, her sarcastic mannerism shining through once more.

"yeah, hang on," The Doctor interrupts, "she may be right."

"please tell me you are not taking her side!" Flossy screeches, shocked to hear The Doctor say something like that.

"just wait!" he argues back. "The lasers she shot at you – well what would have been us, but you – were immunisation lasers. The stars are trying to save you. Only, like us, the dinosaurs naturally try to dodge the lasers and run and hide everytime the stars come out. Which, of course, would explain why our friend Danny was so afraid of them. Quite right too, it's a natural reaction in almost every species, when something or someone tries to attack you, you run in the opposite direction."

Flossy begins to realise what The Doctor is getting at, "so they were being kind?"

"Well, that's Sally's story," The Doctor explains. "Sounds legitimate to me. Probably is true. I thought there was something wrong with the sand when we first arrived, remember?"

Flossy recalls their earlier conversation, from when they first arrived, "_don't trust the sand._"

The Doctor nods in agreement at Flossy's quote, before continuing his explanation. "Only problem is, there are about… blimey, 157 types of sand that fit this description. Using simple questions and answers, it could take hours to work out exactly which one we're working with."

"hence the sand sample!" Flossy grins, finally catching onto what The Doctor's getting at.

"you got it," he replies with a grin.

He runs the sand sample through the TARDIS scanner. Within seconds, the screen lights up, presenting the results – alien technology never fails to amaze Flossy. However, the sample results appear to immediately alarm The Doctor.

Flossy recognises The Doctor's sudden behaviour change, and begins to panic slightly herself. It's all too rare that he shows the slightest bit of emotion, and now he is showing hundreds of them all at once.

"What is it?" she asks him, trying to sound reassuring, in the hope of calming him down – even slightly.

"It's Karcshore sand," he states, anger and sorrow both shining through his words at once. "We may be too late."

"why?" Flossy is curious as to why The Doctor is already giving up, without showing the slightest sign of trying to fight against… whatever this is. "What's Karcshore sand?"

"it's a type of alien sand, used in ancient wars, many millennia ago," The Doctor begins to share his horrific memories with Flossy. No great amount of detail is needed for her to understand just how severe this is – it's all evident in the way the Time Lord tells the story. Pain, regret, frustration…

"These wars went on for centuries," he continues, whilst Flossy watches and listens, intently, "it was the perfect weapon. The victims didn't even realise they were under attack, until it was too late. You could kill thousands of people at once, thousands of innocents."

"what does it do, Doctor?" Flossy asks, eager to learn as much as she can from this broken man.

She knows how important it is when he begins to show his true colours, and as weird as it may sound, she likes it when he does. It's the only time she knows that she is getting an honest answer out of him. The only time she feels like she is truly needed. Someone has to be there for him, to help pick up the pieces.

"it reverses the body clock – you live to un-existence," The doctor continues, gritting his teeth, his anger becoming more and more evident. "It only works on one hearted species. They tried and tried to create one that worked on my species, and others alike, but nothing worked. Thankfully." He begins to return back to reality, and reassures Flossy on the situation. "oh, don't worry, you're safe. The effect only kicks in after prolonged exposure or accidental consumption – that's assuming no-one wants to willingly eat sand, of course. If they do, that counts too; any form of consumption would kick-start the anti-ageing process."

He then turns to Flossy, his face instantly apologetic. "I don't know if Danny and his family can be saved, Flossy," he tells her. But the stars were right; they are there to give out immunisation. And all the inhabitants here should trust them, and let them do just that. For their own sake. Because there's nothing else we can do."

The one thing he hates most of all, is seeing innocent people suffering and knowing he can't help. Knowing that any effort he makes will only make things worse. And flossy knows this. She wants to help him, in the same way he does her.

"We may not be able to save all of them," she reassures him, "but saving one is better than saving none."


End file.
